The attorney for a Chatham woman who drove her vehicle through an after-school camp earlier this week says the incident occurred because of a medical emergency.
According to a report by WICS channel 20 in Springfield, attorney for 44-year-old Marianne Akers, W. Scott Hanken, says his client had a seizure of some type of degree while she was driving westbound on Walnut Street in Chatham at approximately 3:20 Monday afternoon.
Hanken says the episode rendered Akers completely and utterly incapacitated at the time, and as a result of that seizure, she has no recollection of what occurred.
According to camera footage from the area, Akers’ vehicle left the road and traveled across an open farm field at a high rate of speed and then crashed through a wall on the east side of the YNOT After School Camp on Breckenridge Road in Chatham.
The vehicle continued through the building, crashing through another exterior wall on the west side. The accident claimed the lives of an 18-year-old girl, two 7-year-old girls, and an 8-year-old girl. Six more children were taken to area hospitals, with one in critical condition
Hanken told WICS that Akers has no history of any seizure disorder or any type of medical condition that could induce seizures. She was not injured in the crash but was transported to an area hospital for evaluation.
On Thursday, Illinois State Police announced that preliminary toxicology reports came back negative for alcohol and controlled substances.
Hanken says Akers has 100% cooperated with law enforcement since the incident. He says the incident was a medical emergency that is a total tragedy for the Chaham community, and that his client is devastated.